Items (articles and/or pages) from this title available in Elephind: 2,038

Earliest Date: 4 June 1915

Latest Date: 7 January 1921

Description

The Sun

The first edition of the Sun appeared June 4, 1915, in Price, Utah. Though not the first newspaper in Price, the Sun enjoyed relative success, perhaps because of its alliance with the Republican Party, a political affiliation that attracted many Utahns during the early twentieth century. For 17 years, the Sun served the people of east-central Utah, where mining drove the local economy.

With its stark, barren cliffs and arid landscape, this area attracted few settlers until coal was discovered in the 1880s. Then miners came, hired by coal companies who built towns, schools, stores, and saloons on the desolate terrain. Price began to grow in 1883, when the Denver & Rio Grande railroad built a station there. One year later, residents erected a log meetinghouse that served as a church building, school, and courtroom. Named for William Price, a Mormon bishop who explored the area in the 1860s, the little town grew up along with Utahâ€™s coal industry. Attracting workers from around the world, including hundreds of Greeks, Price became more diverse than the rest of Utah. More religions, ethnicities, and political persuasions were represented in Price than in just about any other small town in Utah. By 1910, the townâ€™s population climbed above 1,000.

In its first edition, the Sun attempted to build a following among the regionâ€™s diverse population. â€œWith this issue the Sun makes its bow before the people,â€� read the newspaperâ€™s front-page introduction. â€œThe Sun is republican in politics, but its aim at all times will be the upbuilding of Price, Carbon county, and the Empire of Eastern Utahâ€¦It will shine for all.â€�

Published every Friday, the Sun focused on providing a mix of local and national news, along with political cartoons, coal prices, and the occasional Biblical quotation. Often, the Sunâ€™s manager, Robert W. Crockett, made the news rather than reporting it. His ongoing feud with another Price newspaper, the News-Advocate once led to a public brawl, reports of which made papers throughout the state. In another instance, Crockett suffered a public beating administered by a Carbon County official who was incensed at his lampooning in the Sun. Crockett later retaliated by stabbing the official in stomach. The man survived, according to a news story that ran in the Carbon County News.

In February 1930, Crockett died, and his son took over management of the Sun. Two years later, the newspaper merged with its formal rival, and became the Sun-Advocate. In the twenty-first century, that paper continues to thrive.